1.First things first, i like to pick a good solid palm trunk. Preferably cabage(sable) palm or coconut. Washingtonian is ok too but it seems to rot a little quicker. i have never had good luck with queen. It rots the quickest.
2. i find a good one and i call it "sweet meat"!
3. i find the best side to carve by standing it up and see how it sits best.
4. I strip off the bark 3/4 of the way around it.

5. Once the bark is stripped off you have a clean slate to draw on if you cant just imagine how it will look. It is best to draw a line down the center. I see many new carvers twist up the face by not keeping center.
6. i like to start on the nose first because i can use it as my center point and everything flows off that.

I forgot to mention a sharp chisel is very important. I sharpen my chisels about 2-3 times during a carving. I am also using a cheezy harbor freight wood chisel, so a good set may need less sharpning due to better quality heat treating.

If you never seem to get a smooth cut or it looks like the wood fibers are always fuzzy, its probably your chisel, not the wood.